Skepticamp words important to skepticism - PowerPoint Presentation

Slide1

Skepticampwords important to skepticism

Saturday, March 28, 2009Slide2

About the Venn Diagram

Drew it this way because it’s pretty

Actually it’s more like thisSlide3

Welcome

Mission Statement of the Skeptics of Tucson We are a social group composed of diverse individuals who share a common interest in promoting the understanding and application of

critical thinking

skills and scientific methodology in the explanation of human experience — from the seemingly mundane to the alleged paranormal.

Critical thinking

consists of mental processes of discernment, analysis and evaluation.Slide4

Desired Results of Discussion

Spark questionsMotivate researchDoubt what you hear

Don’t take life decisions based on what you hear at ANY meeting, including a skeptics meeting

Check out everythingSlide5

Words Important to Skepticism

SkepticCritical ThinkingSkeptic vs. Cynic

Observations

Theory

ParadigmSlide6

Skeptic

skep⋅tic

   /ˈ

skɛptɪk

/ Show Spelled Pronunciation [

skep-tik] Show IPA –noun

1. a person who questions the validity or authenticity of something purporting to be factual. 2. a person who maintains a doubting attitude, as toward values, plans, statements, or the character of others.

3. a person who doubts the truth of a religion, esp. Christianity, or of important elements of it.

4. (initial capital letter) Philosophy.

a. a member of a philosophical school of ancient Greece, the earliest group of which consisted of

Pyrrho

and his followers, who maintained that real knowledge of things is impossible.

b. any later thinker who doubts or questions the possibility of real knowledge of any kind.Slide7

Who’s the skeptic?

Susan Blackmore

Richard Dawkins

David Deutsch

Chris French

Martin Gardner

Nicholas Humphrey

Mike Hutchison

Ray Hyman

Paul Kurtz

David Marks

James Randi

Michael

Shermer

Richard Wiseman

Lewis Wolpert Tony Youens Brian Dunning

Ben Stein

Rupert Sheldrake

Alex

Tsakiris

David Ray Griffin

Steven Jones

James

Fetzer

Kent

Hovind

Ken Hamm

CharlieSlide8

What I’ve Heard

Promotional products keynote speakerEarth climate change and Mars?

Frank

Antenori

(AZ Conservative Politician)

National Review

At a party“I’m a skeptic. I don’t trust the scientists”Penn Gillette“

I loathe everything about Al Gore, so since Gore has been crusading against climate change it must be garbage.

”Slide9

Critical Thinking

Critical thinking is the careful, deliberate determination of whether we should accept, reject, or suspend judgment about a claim and the degree of confidence with which we accept or reject it. It is a purposeful and reflective judgment about what to believe or what to do in response to observations, experience, verbal or written expressions, or arguments. Critical thinking might involve determining the meaning and significance of what is observed or expressed, or, concerning a given inference or argument, determining whether there is adequate justification to accept the conclusion as true. Hence, Fisher &

Scriven

define critical thinking as "Skilled, active, interpretation and evaluation of observations, communications, information, and argumentation."

Critical thinking gives due consideration to the evidence

, the context of judgment, the relevant criteria for making the judgment well, the applicable methods or techniques for forming the judgment, and the applicable theoretical constructs for understanding the nature of the problem and the question at hand. Critical thinking employs not only logic but broad intellectual criteria such as clarity, credibility, accuracy, precision, relevance, depth, breadth, significance and fairness.

In contemporary usage "critical" has the connotation of expressing disapproval,

which is not always true of critical thinking. A critical evaluation of an argument, for example, might conclude that it is good.Slide10

An Aside

Preparing for retirement about 3 years ago I needed a cause—Advance the Cause of Reason (Rationality, Skepticism, Atheism, Humanism, Critical Thinking)

So…when my friend asked what I was going to do after retirement?...

“…but you can’t be a skeptic. You seem like such a positive person.”

“I think you’re confusing skeptic with cynic”Slide11

Skeptic vs Cynic

Cynic:

1. a person who believes that only selfishness motivates human actions and who disbelieves in or minimizes selfless acts or disinterested points of view.

2. (initial capital letter) one of a sect of Greek philosophers, 4th century BCE, who advocated the doctrines that virtue is the only good, that the essence of virtue is self-control, and that surrender to any external influence is beneath human dignity.

3. a person who shows or expresses a bitterly or sneeringly cynical attitude. Slide12

Skeptic vs CynicSlide13

Skeptic vs Cynic

Skepticism is about:Science

Data

Critical Thinking

Cynicism is about MotivationSlide14

Cynic vs Skeptic

Two skeptics can violently disagree and thrash about for an hour and at the end not agree but go get a drink together.

The

Hatfields

and

McCoys were cynics.

Once the arguments start addressing individual motivations, rational discussion ends.No way to prove a persons motivations.No hope of reaching consensus.Slide15

Uncommon words Used commonly

Observations, Theories, ParadigmsSlide16

Observations (Facts)

Facts are boring things (lifeless, cold, dead) -Dr Joanna Masel,

UofA

I would rather discover a single fact, even a small one, than debate the great issues at length without discovering anything new at all. -Galileo Galilei Slide17

Observations (Facts)

Rarely changeIncorporated in new paradigmsUsually non contentious

Example: Fossils

Fossils

exist

They are bones of previously living creaturesSlide18

Theories (Interpretations)

Theories are where science happensA theory

, in the general sense of the word, is an analytic structure designed to explain a set of observations. A theory does two things:

it identifies this set of distinct observations as a class of phenomena, and

makes assertions about the underlying reality that brings about or affects this class.Slide19

Theories (Interpretations)

Gives us the ability to:Describe thingsExplain observations

Predict outcomes

Act to effect an outcomeSlide20

Paradigms (More than 20 cents)

General acceptanceFramework (the box)Universal model

Few unexplained

anomalies

Highly stable, resistant to change

When paradigm shifts occur, they have significant consequencesSlide21

Paradigm Shifts

The transition from a Ptolemaic cosmology to a Copernican one. The transition between the worldview of Newtonian physics and the Einsteinian Relativistic worldview.

The acceptance of

Plate tectonics

as the explanation for large-scale geologic changes. Slide22

Earth Centered Cosmology

Ptolemaic system

In the Ptolemaic system, each planet is moved by five or more spheres: one sphere is its deferent. The deferent was a circle centered around a point halfway between the equant and the earth. Another sphere is the

epicycle

which is embedded in the deferent. The planet is embedded in the epicycle sphere. The deferent rotates around the Earth while the epicycle rotates within the deferent, causing the planet to move closer to and farther from Earth at different points in its orbit, and even to slow down, stop, and move backward (in retrograde motion). The epicycles of Venus and Mercury are always centered on a line between Earth and the Sun (Mercury being closer to Earth), which explains why they are always near it in the sky.Slide23

Heliocentric (~1543)

In astronomy,

heliocentrism

is the theory that the Sun is at the center of the Universe. The word came from the Greek (

ήλιος

Helios

= sun and

κέντρον

kentron

= center). Historically,

heliocentrism

was opposed to geocentrism, which placed the earth at the center. (The distinction between the Solar System and the Universe was not clear until modern times, but extremely important relative to the controversy over cosmology and religion). Though discussions on the possibility of

heliocentrism

date to antiquity, it was not until 1,800 years later, however, in the 16th century, that the mathematician and astronomer Copernicus presented a fully predictive mathematical model of a heliocentric system, which was later elaborated and expanded by Johannes

Kepler

.Slide24

Normal Science

In normal science, we are puzzle-solvingThe fundamentals of the accepted paradigm are not tested It is assumed that there are built in mechanisms that cause research to produce results necessitating a paradigm shift when the current one fails to function effectivelySlide25

Summary

Important WordsSkepticCritical Thinking

Skeptic vs. Cynic

Observations

Theory

ParadigmSlide26

Closing

“It’s only words, and words are all I have…”

When scientists and engineers use words they must have common well understood meanings.

A journalist can finesse meanings through inexact phrases and secondary meanings.

(The word bureaucrat for example has a technical and emotional meaning.) Slide27

Contact Information

AZAtheist@cox.net(520) 370-8420

http://www.meetup.com/Skeptics-of-Tucson/

http://www.meetup.com/Tucson-Atheists/